Elaine Chan College Advising

Elaine Chan has been a wonderful support to my daughter (BHS class of 2024) through the college application process. We started working with her in junior year and she gave her great advice on everything from choosing senior classes, summer activities, making a college list, college visits , to the applications itself. Elaine is very familiar with Berkeley High and the CCC and supplements the advice on offer there. Most of all, I appreciated how encouraging and kind she was to my daughter who was stressed and  anxious about the whole process. Elaine helped her to grow in confidence and  my daughter felt more confident and encouraged after each meeting with Elaine. My daughter is 1st gen and it was great that Elaine understood that situation so well. I couldn’t recommend her highly enough - she is an exceptional person - kind and encouraging and accomplished so much with my daughter in their sessions. Elaine sends great emails summarizing status and providing links to resources so parents are informed while allowing the student to lead the process with Elaine. I am so grateful that we had Elaine to help my daughter through this process - she was the best! 

Elaine Chan counseled my daughter for her college applications (high school class of 2023).  Elaine was organized, resourceful, patient, accessible, calming, helpful and supportive in all ways possible.  Elaine takes her role very seriously as a professional through her diligent research on colleges and keeping up-to-date on the changing landscape of college applications.  She is extremely supportive and knowledgeable, answering and anticipating questions with helpful info and resources. Elaine was always there when you needed her and knew how to bring out the best in my daughter as she coached her in her essay writing.  Elaine was great about understanding my daughter's academic and extra curricular interests, strengths, and general tastes in order to help her apply for colleges that would be the best match for her. Elaine gave my daughter a stress-free college application experience!  We are very grateful for Elaine's help and anyone would be so lucky as to have her for their college counselor.

I am eternally grateful to Elaine for counseling both of my boys through their college admissions process. She got to know each child individually. My two boys have very different personalities, interests and academic strengths.  One is a business major and very sports oriented.  The other is an engineer major and more academic focused.  Elaine helped each of them become stronger applicants by devising a comprehensive plan to show academic rigor, extracurricular activities, and helped them become more well rounded.

This started during their junior year when Elaine would set goals for them at every meeting.  I received emails after every meeting regarding the goals set, schools picked, upcoming deadlines, essays to be written and the next meeting.  I was always looped in even though I didn't attend their virtual meetings. She has a remarkable ability to motivate each child through the arduous process in a very supportive way. Neither of my kids ever felt stressed or overwhelmed through the process.

My older son is now majoring in finance at Santa Clara University and is thriving and so happy.  My current HS senior got accepted to Cal Poly SLO engineering which has a 4.9% acceptance rate. SLO was his first choice. 

I would give Elaine a million stars out of 10. I will be eternally grateful to her and my boys feel the same. She is patient, knowledgeable, personable and so organized!!  A true professional and extremely good at what she does.   

I would easily recommend working with Elaine Chan for anyone seeking a commonsense, patient, thoughtful coach along the bumpy road of the college application process. She worked with our family beginning in my son's junior year and helped him to identify criteria for finding schools that would fit him just right. During the essay writing and applications, she was available as needed with feedback and valuable suggestions. I appreciated her big-picture perspective and patience. 

I wholeheartedly recommend Elaine for college counseling.  She worked closely with our son on every aspect of the college selection and application process, beginning his junior year of Berkeley High.  Elaine has been so professional, knowledgable,  supportive and patient throughout the entire journey.  She spent a lot of time to get to know my son on a personal level which helped shape the list of schools she recommended and as well as what essay topics to write about.  She worked with him in a way that matched his style and abilities, including hands on involvement when it came to filling out applications. She paced the entire process in a way that kept him on task but without feeling anxious or rushed for time. Elaine was always generous with her time and quick to respond to our questions and concerns.

You would be so fortunate to get to work with Elaine Chan for your student's college admissions advising. I reached out to Elaine for help because I read that she is a first generation college graduate and I am too. It was a different experience for me navigating this alone as a high school student 27 years ago than it was for many in my town and it's still a different experience as a parent now trying to guide my student among a sea of affluent high-achieving kids. Still paying my own student loans while trying to plan for my son's education is daunting indeed, but when Elaine called me from her car and talked to me for almost an hour, she gave me so much valuable advice and carefully pointed me to resources I didn't know I had. I appreciate her insight, wisdom, and heart so much. Just talking to her eased my mind about the process and I could sense that she has that same level of care and concern for all of her clients. Like I said, you would be lucky to have her in your pocket through this journey.

I reached out to Elaine when I was trying to decide between staying at the local public high school or enrolling at the private high school in which my son was accepted.  I searched BPN and reached out to Elaine.  She was quick to respond and made time for us the same weekend that I contacted her.  She asked the right questions of my son, and she even reached out to her colleague who knew more about the public high school in my area.  In addition, by the time that we met via zoom, she had a presentation of the pros and cons and other comparisons all lined up between the two schools that we were considering.  When I asked to work with her going forward, she indicated that she had a colleague who was in the same town as me who knew my school and would be better for us given that her colleague knows the school/community.  Talk about honesty!  I would recommend Elaine in a heartbeat!  She is honest, responsive and knowledgeable.  You will not go wrong in reaching out to her for one of the most important decisions in your child's life.  Thank you, Elaine! 

The best part of the college application process was deciding to work with Elaine Chan! Our daughter, a senior at Berkeley High School, worked with Elaine on her college essays. Elaine has the expertise to help students through the entire process, from choosing schools to applying, with expert guidance at each step of the way. Another writer described Elaine as knowledgeable, approachable, trustworthy, and kind. We would add the words passionate, excited, and efficient. It’s clear she cares a lot about her students, makes a connection with each one, and helps them identify their accomplishments and what makes them unique. Our daughter always looked forward to her meetings with Elaine and felt inspired and confident afterward.  

Additionally, their partnership meant that we could play a supporting role in the process and all enjoy the journey towards this important milestone. During this process, the independence empowered our daughter to truly understand what she has accomplished thus far and is capable of in the future. 

We highly recommend Elaine Chan!!!  She is a wonderful experienced college counselor and college essay writer- Knowledgable, approachable, trustworthy and kind.  With her expertise, she makes a daunting process enjoyable! As a parent of a teen, I appreciate stepping back and allowing Elaine to create a great rapport with my daughter. She is working with my daughter on her college essays and activities list through zoom, and inspiring my daughter to write her college essays over summer. Elaine’s comments are insightful and positive, with a quick turn around time. Most importantly, she makes sure the student finds and keeps their unique voice in the essay writing process. My daughter commented, “ Elaine is a great listener and understands what I am trying to convey.” Overall, Elaine Chan goes above and beyond and it was truly a pleasure to work with her. We recommend her without hesitation. 

We used Elaine Chan for our daughter, a senior at Berkeley High. She did a great job. From developing a list of colleges, many of which we would not have thought to consider,  to structuring the entire application process, Elaine made this daunting task run smoothly and successfully. She communicated each stage of development along the way and was always available for questions and advice. She worked with our daughter effectively from the beginning, transforming a challenging process into an engaged and enthusiastic collaboration with our daughter.  It was fantastic to be able to step back and watch it unfold. I have no hesitation recommending Elaine.

Our daughter was accepted into several excellent private colleges with generous scholarship awards. Elaine Chan's services were an excellent investment. 

My daughter, a BHS senior, and I cannot say enough about how invaluable Elaine has been throughout the college application process. Elaine immediately developed a rapport with my daughter when they first met and deepened a supportive, kind, patient relationship as they continued to meet. As Elaine got to know my daughter's personality and aspirations, through her extensive knowledge of colleges in California and throughout the US, she was able to make suggestions of colleges where my daughter would thrive. Once my daughter decided where to apply, Elaine kept us on schedule. She is a wiz at navigating all of the different college applications and created a college "application tracker" for us to stay organized. My daughter applied to many colleges which required writing multiple essays. Not only was Elaine an indispensable writing coach for my daughter's writing process, but Elaine is an expert on college and career essay writing and knows what the colleges are looking for. Elaine also assisted my daughter in creating and submitting art portfolios and artist biographies which were additional requirements as an Art major.  We are now beginning to hear from colleges and are thrilled that my daughter will have many options to choose from. Elaine was invaluable for keeping my daughter on track and she was invaluable to me for keeping me calm when I would get stressed out. We could not have gotten through the application process without Elaine's expertise and sincerity. 

Elaine is fantastic! My daughter really enjoyed working with her. Elaine is very positive and kind and put our daughter at ease with the stressful college process. She was extremely helpful in matching colleges to her interests, preferences and and strength, considering her personality and academic skills. My daughter is a senior at Berkeley High and Elaine's background as a former BHS mom was very helpful in understanding the high schools coursework and systems. She patiently introduced us to the various platforms used throughout the application process and was always available to answer our many questions. Elaine provided detailed documentation about college choices, an organizer to keep applications on track and supported us at every step of the process. She was very fast, responsive and positive. Elaine is an experience essay writing coach and pushed our daughter to dig deeper and get out of her comfort zone to further develop her writing. We are excited to have Elaine start working with our younger daughter who its currently a sophomore at BHS. She is truly amazing and we can highly recommend her! 

We came to Elaine through the Berkeley Parents Network website. She has been a breath of fresh air and a boatload of help for steering our daughter in the right direction regarding college choices and applications. Our daughter is well on her way. The best thing is that we know that if our daughter needs more guidance Elaine knows her and is there to help. This has really given us parents a peace of mind we were not experiencing prior to Elaine. Our daughter is not finished with the process yet, but thanks to Elaine it appears we will all survive!

Ditto to everything in the post by Miya.  I would like to add that Elaine is very flexible.  She is willing to help your child with the process of applying to college no matter what stage he/she might be in.  So whether you are just starting out and getting information or you need help with the actual applications, Elaine will be able to help you out.  She will help you and your family come up with a plan so that the entire process is less stressful.  She also has experience with the essay writing process and makes it a point of really trying to get to know your child.  She has experience as an essay-reader and has a very good sense of what colleges are looking for.  With just a little brainstorming, she will be able to help your child find his/her unique voice.  Elaine has been a huge help to me my son who was overwhelmed and stressed.  When she finished working with him, he was confident and relaxed.  He will be applying way ahead of schedule, thanks to Elaine!  Go to her web site for information:  https://www.elainechancollegeadvising.com/new-page/

Elaine is a certified college counselor who is extremeley knowledgeable with the Berkeley High system and how it applies to getting into both private and public universities all over the US. Having had kids of her own who graduated from Berkeley High and successfully were accepted to schools like Berkeley and USC you can trust her insight as both a mother and an advisor. She is easily accessible, super patient, diligent, thoughtful, sincere and knows her stuff. Elaine worked with my son on the Common app, Cal State app, & UC app. She also helped pin point and narrow down the ideal college list for him. She is very approachable and I would definitely recommend her services to anyone applying for college.